Happy Monday! Each week, we delve into health and wellness trends with a healthy dose of skepticism, offering practical tips to enhance your wellbeing and performance 🥑

Here’s what you’ll find in this week’s issue:

• ❤️‍🩹 Immune boosting or bust? What the science says.

• 💤 Discover your sleep chronotype to better structure your day.

• 🦷 It’s back: this Ayurvedic practice is trending on TikTok.

• 🍄 New research on magic mushrooms for mental health.

Let’s go!

MAIN FEATURE

Immune “Boosting” Products Are Everywhere — But Do They Work?

As summer fades and cold & flu season approaches (plus, an uptick in COVID cases), brace yourself for a flood of ads selling products that promise to "boost" your immune system.

On Amazon alone, a quick search for "immune boosting" yields over 3,000 products, from supplements to gummies to powders and more. But the million-dollar question is this: are immune-boosting products the real deal – or just a ploy for your hard earned dollars? Let’s look at the facts.

First — what the heck is the immune system, anyways?

Your immune system is your body's defense network against invaders – think harmful germs and abnormal cells. Its main job? Telling what's you from what's not and kicking out the intruders while protecting your own cells. In other words, it’s what keeps you healthy and helps fight off disease.

So it makes sense why people want to crank up their immune function, especially during high-risk times like cold & flu season. Unsurprisingly, merchants are happy to jump in and hawk products promising to support immune health. So, do they work?

The problem with immune “boosting” products

The issue with immune "boosting" products is that the idea of a single product strengthening your immune system is misleading. Your immune system employs three primary defense mechanisms:

1. Physical barriers (such as the skin and eyes)

2. Innate response (including white blood cells)

3. Adaptive response (which involves the generation of antibodies)

This means measuring the effectiveness of such products is tricky, as multiple factors come into play. Take a product claiming to fortify your skin barrier – even if it succeeds, how does it translate to an overall immune system "boost"? The story's the same with Vitamin C. Despite its vital role in the body, high-dose supplements might not significantly enhance immunity in healthy individuals.

Plus, as one dermatologist points out, promoting an excessive immune response can be harmful.

So, what does work?

If you guessed the usual "health basics," you're absolutely right! This means getting good sleep, regular exercise, morning sunlight, a healthy diet, and staying hydrated.

If you want to go a step further, here are some immune system “best practices” to add to your routine:

• Breathe through your nose, not your mouth

• Avoid touching your eyes and your face

• Eat fermented foods to support a healthy microbiome

• Find ways to manage stress & negative mindsets

For more details on all of these, I highly recommend checking out this video. Of course, you should also wash your hands often (regular soap is fine).

💡 Top 3 Takeaways:

1. Immune-boosting products are misleading because there is no objective way to measure their effectiveness

2. Practicing healthy lifestyle habits is your best bet for building a strong immune system

3. There are other immune system “best practices” you can incorporate into your life for extra protection

While buying an immune-boosting product probably isn’t harmful, it’s not a magic pill either. Regardless, what you do consistently makes the difference, so make sure to practice healthy lifestyle habits.

So there you have it. Before you go crush your week, check out the rest of the email.

— JC

📈 Health Optimization Tip of the Week

Enhance performance by discovering your chronotype

Ever heard of chronotypes? They're your body's natural sleep preferences, and they affect your daily performance. If you’re a sucker for online quizzes (like me!), you can discover your chronotype here.

📱 Trending on TikTok #wellnessTok

The trend: Oil pulling 🦷 

Guess what's making a comeback? Oil pulling is all the rage on TikTok and in the wellness scene. If you're new to this, it's an Ayurvedic trick involving swishing cold-pressed oil, like coconut, in your mouth for 5-10 minutes to "detox" gums and prevent cavities. But here's the scoop: one TikTok doc says research shows it can fight gum inflammation, but that you'd need to swish for a whopping 20 minutes – that's a whole Office episode!

⏯️ Watch it on TikTok

Should you jump on the oil pulling train?

❌ Nope, nope, nope 🍊 Maybe, but don’t forget to brush and floss ✅  Yeah!

📆 This Week in Wellness

Every week, we scan the web for the good, the bad and the downright intriguing in the world of health and wellness.

😻 The good:

• Researchers gave depressed patients a single dose of psilocybin with psychological support, which resulted in improved mood and less anxiety. This suggests “magic mushrooms” could be a promising alternative to traditional antidepressants.

👎️ The bad:

• Bad news for ADHD sufferers: While Adderall has been in short supply since October 2022, the continuing shortage is putting stress on students and their families.

🤔 The interesting:

• New Gallup poll shows that plant-based diets may be falling out of favor in the US, with only 1% of participants identifying as vegan (down from 3% in 2019). However, plant-based meat-substitutes are more commonplace than ever before.

💭 Parting Thought

You're not a picky eater, you just need some competition…

Shot of Wellness Mission:

We’re hellbent on making expert-backed health info accessible & free of charge. In a world full of misinformation, we bring the skepticism, so you can think of us as your witty, well-informed friend who's got your back on all things health & wellness.

Something you want to see covered in a future issue?

👉️ Reply now and let us know

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Until next time ✌️ 

Hi, I’m Jenna, founder of Shot of Wellness. Every week, I curate this newsletter with the goal of helping you optimize your health, focus and wellbeing.

Please Note: This is not medical advice. This content is to be used for informational or educational purposes only. I am not a doctor — I do not even play one on TV. Please consult with a medical professional before undertaking any new diet or exercise regime. Take care!